


The Stableboy

by hale_yes



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: AU, Alpha Derek Hale, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Horses, M/M, Middle Ages, Omega Stiles Stilinski, Omega Verse, Princes & Princesses, Royal Derek Hale, Secret Relationship, alternative universe, prince!derek, stableboy!stiles, sterek
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-07
Updated: 2020-02-07
Packaged: 2020-08-11 04:40:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 18,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20147773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hale_yes/pseuds/hale_yes
Summary: The omega Stiles was on his way home from a long day of work at the stables, when the alpha Derek ran into him. Running being the operative word.





	1. Chapter 1

He was tired. He was exhausted. And most of all he was fucking sore.

  
A day of work did that to him. Especially this close to his heat. He’d been at the stable before dawn and now dusk was approaching in leaps. Most of the other stable boys had all gone home by now. They had their families to go back to. Stiles only had the empty house to return to. His dad was covering the nightshift in the watchtowers. They were better payed than in the day and they needed the money. Stiles didn’t bring in much, he was an omega after all. He could count himself lucky to have a job that payed at all.  
So he was left to pick up the slack of his workmates who were in a hurry to get back to their omegas and kids. Of course he was pissed they were enjoying themselves whilst he was still at work. Them still getting payed more than double his wage. But what was the point in complaining? The world was filled with narrowminded bigots and him getting fired over this was just not worth it. So he was left scrubbing the last few boxes on his own. The stable was comfortably silent. Just his whistling could be heard and the odd shuffling of a horse.

  
When he finally locked up behind him it was dark out. The streets were wiped clear and most windows were black. He could count only four lit by the dim light of a candle, passing through the last few streets on his way home. Turning a corner someone ran into him. Running not just being a figure of speech in this case. No both him and the guy ramming into him in full sprint lost their footing and smashed to the ground.

  
Stiles groaned when he sat up. His elbow burned where it made contact with the cobblestone. On closer inspection his shirt was ripped and the skin underneath was split open, red seeping into the edges of the ripped material.

  
“I am so sorry. Are you okay?” The guy who was at fault kneeled over him. His clothes only seemed a bit ruffled and dirtied but nothing major. His cheeks seemed a bit red in the light of the torches lining the main road, but even though he was running when they collided his breath was slow and even. Freaking alphas!

  
Without asking the alpha grabbed his arm and manhandled him to see the damage he had done. “It’s not that bad, it’ll heal pretty fast.”

  
Stiles just snorted. “In a few days maybe,” he exclaimed irritated.

  
The guy frowned and sniffed the air. “You’re an omega,” he just stated.

  
“You think, genius?”

  
The alpha stood, brushed off some of the dirt on his pants before offering his hand to help Stiles up. Ignoring the hand, he got up on his own.  
Wanting to shoulder past the offending guy didn’t work out as the guy grabbed his arm. “Where do you think you’re going.”

  
Stiles shrugged him off before answering. “Home. It was nice meeting you. Good night.”

  
Again the guy frowned. “You should see a medic! You are hurt. This wound could get infected otherwise.”  
Now that made Stiles laugh out loud. Who the hell was that guy? A medic? Who could even afford that shit? If it was daylight he might make the trip to Melissa, have her check his elbow, but a medic? Ridiculous.

  
“Why are you laughing?”

  
Stiles just carried on walking. The guy followed him.

  
“Where are you going?”

  
“I told you, I’m going home.”

  
“I’m taking you then.”

  
“Sure, whatever tickles your fancy.” Stiles was way too exhausted for this bullshit. If this alpha wanted to act all jovial and escort the hurt omega safely home, then so be it. He just wanted to sleep, and if this got him there sooner, then good!

  
Every time they turned a corner the guy looked every which way, like he was expecting someone to jump out at them. Whatever, Stiles could care less in what kind of trouble the guy got himself into. It was none of Stiles business. Stiles didn’t even want to know. He wasn’t even one bit curious. No he definitely wasn’t…

  
When they arrived at the house Stiles shoulders open the grinding door, letting it stand open for the alpha to follow in after him. The way he was acting, there was no way Stiles would get rid of him before the guy had made sure he was sufficiently cared for.  
Instead of following in like expected the alpha stood in the open door just looking in.

  
“What are you doing? Either stay outside or come in, but god help me please close the door, before midges get inside!”

  
Still nothing. “Where is your alpha?”

  
Stiles groaned loudly. Of course. Someone who was that jovial would never enter a room with an omega without that omegas alpha present. “Oh come on. My father is covering the nightshift. Now get to it already and come inside or stay out. But close the door.”

  
Still nothing. “And your mate?”

  
“You’ve got to be kidding me! An omega can be freaking unmated if he so chooses to be! So no mate. So I’m asking again, inside or out?”

  
The guy seemed conflicted for a moment. Probably debating what would be worse. Leaving a hurt omega to his own devices or being in a room with an omega without his alphas consent. Apparently the former seemed more severe. The alpha entered the hut and closed the door behind him reluctantly. Freaking finally.  
Stiles turned his back to his guest and rummaged through the chest at the end of his bed, till he found some dressing and cloth. Those he threw on the kitchen table and fetched a basin he filled with a bit of water from the jug on the table. Falling onto one of the chairs, he started to unbutton his shirt.

  
“Hey, hey what the hell are you doing?” exclaimed the alpha, who still stood unmoving next to the door.

  
Stiles rolled his eyes, whilst pulling the shirt over his head. “What does it look like? Patching up the elbow you destroyed.”

  
Wincing he started to dab the wound with a cloth he soaked in the water. The water in the bowl turned an ugly mix of red and brown. But from what he could see in the low light coming in from the window the wound looked somewhat cleaned out. When he reached for the dressings a “Wait, let me see,” stopped him. Stiles just sighed and the alpha approached reaching for his injured arm. “This looked pretty rough, you should put on some antiseptics.” The expectant look on the alphas face made Stiles question yet again who exactly he had run into. Stiles silence seemed to be answer enough. “Okay no antiseptic. Do you maybe have, I don’t know, honey? It is not the best, but it would do.”  
Still hella expensive, but yes Stiles had honey. Scott had given it to Stiles on his last birthday. He hated that he couldn’t reciprocate the gesture on Scotts birthday, but Scott had the income to afford it ever since he entered the royal guard.

  
Stiles pointed to the small jar on the kitchen shelf and the alpha took it before sitting on the chair next to Stiles. The alpha concentrated on applying the honey and then bandaging the arm, whilst Stiles mustered him.

  
The guys hands were rather clean and seemed like they had never seen a day of hard work. His face was cleanshaven and the hair looked windswept, yes, but clean nonetheless. The clothes were a bit dirtied, but that probably stemmed from their encounter in the street rather then manual labor or days without proper washing, like Stiles’. In addition the blue shirt he wore was adorned with intricate embroideries. Stiles couldn’t even imagine what one had to pay for such fine work. The alpha had to be a scholar to say the least.

  
“I am Derek,” he said whilst tucking in the end of the dressing, before looking up to meet Stiles gaze. For a moment Stiles just stared at the breath catching green. Of course he was called Derek. Everyone was called Derek these days…

  
He gave his own name in answer. Derek smiled. “Nice to meet you Stiles. And I am really deeply sorry for the trouble I caused you. I should have been more careful.”  
“It’s okay. No worries. All good here. It was really my fault sir.” He rambled.

  
“No need to call me sir, Stiles,” Derek chuckled. “What were you even doing out so late in the streets?”

  
Stiles leg started jumping up and down nervously. He had heard stories of how the alphas of the upper class took advantage of young omegas, irrelevant of if they were mated or not. How could he have been so stupid to let an unknown alpha into his house? The sense of security he has had due to how tired he was from work started vanishing now that the adrenaline took over.

  
“Stiles are you okay?” A hand rested on Stiles jumping leg and he froze. Just staring at Derek. “Stiles?”

  
“Uh. I was-“ He croaks. Then coughs. ”I was on my way back from work. From the stables. Because that’s where I work. The stables.”

  
Derek raises an eyebrow but doesn’t comment on the mumbling fool Stiles made of himself. He just squeezes Stiles knee, where his hand still rested.  
In the distance you could hear the clocks of the church chiming two in the morning. Stiles had to be back at work in three hours. He should be sleeping already.  
Derek took back his hand before getting up and putting the honey back on the shelf. Stiles just stayed at the table not leaving Derek out of his sight, to scared of what will no doubtlessly happen next.

  
“You should rest.” Derek turned back around waiting for Stiles reply that didn’t come. “Again I am sorry for the trouble I have caused. I am leaving you be now. It was a pleasure meeting you Stiles.”

  
With a smile and a pat on Stiles back Derek left the hut and shut the door behind himself. Stiles let out a huge sigh and let his head sink on the table in front of him.


	2. Chapter 2

He woke up to the sound of his dad stumbling in. The room was filled with the orange light of the rising sun. When he sat up in bed his dad still stood in the doorframe. Face set into a dark frown.

  
“Morning dad.” Pause.

  
“Stiles, why do I smell another alpha and your blood in my house?” He looked more resigned than angry. Knowing Stiles antics way to well to question much and jump to his own conclusions. The protective alpha still showed, in that his eyes were alpha red.

  
Raising his injured arm he shows his father the bandage Derek applied. “This guy ran into me and I busted my elbow. Then he escorted me home like the good alpha stereotype does with a hurt omega. He only left after he made sure I was sufficiently cared for. Nothing more.”  
At the ‘sufficiently cared for’ his dad lifted an eyebrow but didn’t question it. He just fell back on his bed at the other end of the room without even changing out of his uniform. Soon after there was a soft snore filling the house.

  
Trying to be as quiet a possible Stiles dressed for work. Already his elbow gave him trouble. If he couldn’t even get dressed without wincing, how was he going to survive a whole shift at work?  
Still he rid his dad of at least the boots, and pulled up the blanket over him.

  
When the clocktower declared that it was already quarter past five in the morning he rushed out the door and through the filling streets of Beacon Hills, the capital of the Kingdom.  
Both the stables and his home were on the edges of town, close to the town walls. The trip still took its time, because they were on opposite ends. On his way he greeted a few people he knew but didn’t get into any of the excited chatter around him.

  
The chatter didn’t stop once he arrived at the stables. Some of his workmates nodded at him, but nothing was said to him when he grabbed a few brushes for the horses. He only realized what excited the rest of town when the stable owner arrived to make an announcement.  
“Impending Princess Cora’s royal wedding, the palace has announced a parade in a week’s time. Considering that the royal stables cannot provide enough horses for an adequate parade, some of ours will participate. I will put up a list with all the jobs to be done by the time of the parade. Should you not be able to read, please find someone who is and can read it to you.”

  
With that he posted the list and was gone. For now Stiles ignored the new work and continued with his previous job of brushing the horses. He was progressing much slower than normal, mostly using his left, instead of right arm. From the overuse that arm started aching halfway through the boxes. Just splendid.

  
When he was finally on the last horse there was a knock on the door of the box. “Ey, Stiles. When you’re done here, help saddle Trooper.” His answer was only a affirmative hum, as he dropped the brush he was holding into the bucket at his side.

  
Troopers box was only a few over and when he entered it he frowned at the young blonde alpha leaning against the box wall. The word help might have been a bit farfetched. This guy definitely wasn’t going to do any work of his own.

  
Stiles bowed to the alpha. “My name is Stiles, I am going to be your stable boy today, sir.”

  
A smirk crossed the young man’s face. “Pleasure Stiles, it’s Sir Jackson to you.” The wink made Stiles shiver. He tried ignoring Jackson whilst preparing Trooper, but when he started fastening the harness he jumped when he felt a hand grabbing ahold of his chest. The body trying to press itself into Stiles back. His shriek startled the horse and landed him with a hoof on his leather clad foot. Stumbling back he crashed back into Jackson, who fastened the hold on him instantly. One of his hand stroked up and down Stiles chest, whilst the other held onto Stiles hip.

  
How was he always getting into such situations, at the mercy of yet another alpha?

  
“My are you easily startled huh?” The hot air against his neck provoked goosebumps to run down his arms and his heartbeat skyrocketed.  
Stiles wanted to free himself. Kick Jackson where it would hurt the most. But all he could do was stand frozen in his grasp and wait for what would happen next. He noticed how his breathing got shallow and he could hear an insistent beep.

  
“What’s going on?” Jackson let him go. Stiles spun to the open door of the box. There stood a red headed girl, who frowned at him like he was dirt under her shoe.

  
“Lydia my love. Nothings going on. He was just getting my horse ready for me.”

  
One of the girls eyebrows rose. “Sure.” She didn’t believe Jackson one bit.

  
Stiles took this opportunity to make himself sparse. With a slight bow to both persons present in the box, he fled to the one place he would feel safe right now.

  
The tears came the moment he closed the door behind himself. There really was no way to tell if they were from the events just a moment ago, his burning elbow, or his aching toes. He sank to the straw covered floor, biting in his hand to muffle his crying.

  
There was some shuffling and then hot air was blown in his face as Abbot investigated, what exactly Stiles was doing in his box. When the boy didn’t react the horse lay down next to him putting its head in his lap, not deterred from the boys wheezing breath. Abbot lay still. Just a comforting presence. And over time Stiles’ breathing evened out. He stopped biting his hand and instead started gently stroking the horses head. The sounds of Jackson’s and the girl’s voices could be heard when they came back from their ride.

  
He noticed the light changing as the day progressed. He knew he should get up and back to work, but he couldn’t bring himself to leave the box yet. He’d just stay overtime again, and make up what he lacked right now. So he just stayed there cuddling his best friend at the stable.  
He didn’t speak. There was no need to.

  
The horse was startled a few times when another stable boy dropped something or a conversation close to the box got too loud, but Stiles was able to calm Abbot each time, so that the horse stayed put cradled in Stiles’ arms.

  
Only when he heard the first few of his fellow stable boys leaving for the night did he get the strength to get up and leave the box. For the first time that day did he approach the list of chores to be done by the parade for princess Cora’s wedding celebration. Some things were already crossed of, but most were still undone. This was going to be a long week to get all of this done in time.

  
He picked the task at the top of the list and collected everything he would need. He sat down in a corner of the storage room and started to polish the leather of the saddles.

  
The stable cleared out more and more till yet another night in row, Stiles was the only one left. He moved one of the torches in the mounting over his head, and resigned himself to a few more hours of work. It was pitch black outside when the front door opened and closed again. Stiles got up as he heard someone walking through the stable.  
“I am sorry, You’ll have to return tomorrow. We are closed for business for today.” The guy standing in front of a box stroking the horse in it, turned around. “Derek?”

  
Derek smiled and nonchalantly leaned against the door of the box.  
“Stiles. I was not sure I would actually catch you before you went home.”

  
“Well you did. What do you want now that you found me? I really have to get some work done, and it is already late enough.” He pointed vaguely over his shoulder to demonstrate all the work still left.

  
Derek’s hand vanished in his pocket and then he held up some dressing and a little tin. “I brought some antiseptic.”  
Stiles jaw dropped. He had asked it before. And he would ask it again. Who the hell was that guy? Who did something like that?  
“I really would not be able to live with myself if I was the reason you died from sepsis. So please let me change your dressings. It really is more for my peace of mind than you.” Did the alpha really just freaking wink at him? What was even going on?

  
Sighing Stiles resigned himself to his fate and turned around to reenter the storage room. From what he gathered Derek would follow him anyway.

  
He sat back down in the place he had just vacated and gestured beside himself. Derek took the invitation and sat right next to him. He got to it right away and started unwrapping Stile’s arm. Carefully the wound was dabbed with the old dressing to rid it of the excess honey. Derek inspected the wound and nodded pleased. Stiles noted dark veins appearing on Derek’s hands. To say he was surprised would have been an understatement. Taking someone’s pain was generally considered to be very intimate. Something family did for each other, in the privacy of their own home. In rare cases friends drew pain from each other. But mere strangers? Stiles decided not to comment. Thankful for the gesture, but he did not want to embarrass Derek with pointing out what he did was highly inappropriate.

  
Derek didn’t even seem to notice Stiles baffled face, fully concentrated on tending to Stiles’ arm. He applied the antiseptic and the new dressing, again tucking the end carefully into the rest of the bandage.

  
“There you go.” Derek smiled at him and Stiles felt his heart flutter. The alpha pointed at the rag in Stiles’ hand questioning what it’s for.

  
“I was polishing the saddles before you arrived.”

  
“I can help.” Stiles raised an eyebrow. The pointed look to Derek’s fancy clothes provoked a laugh. “Just tell me what to do and I’ll help. I don’t care about these.” He tugs at his shirt. “I mean come on I am sitting on the floor of a stable after all. Do I really look like I care about if my clothes get dirty.”

  
“You should care. They look expensive.”

  
Derek snorts.

  
“You don’t have to help me. You did enough. Really. You apologized. You made sure I got home okay. You made sure my busted elbow was tended to correctly and you didn’t do- Well you didn’t do anything, you know, even though you totally could have, there was no one to stop you. So yeah, you did more than enough.”

  
Derek frowned. “Didn’t do anything? From what could no one have stopped me?” Stiles obscure gesturing apparently was enough for understanding to fleet over Derek’s face.  
“I would never do anything like that.” At the last word his voice turned low and dark. “You need to understand that. I would never!” He cocked his head. His whole appearance turning vulnerable. “Did you really thing I would do something like that to you?”

  
Stiles gaze fell down to the saddle he was polishing. He just shrugged weakly. “I don’t know, you are a stranger after all.”

  
Derek set the used bandages he still held in his hand on the ground. “You can listen to my heartbeat if you want. I just need you to know I would never do something so vile to you.”  
Continuing to rub the saddle Stiles nodded. He believed him. He didn’t need to hear the heartbeat to know Derek was sincere.

  
He didn’t know what to say, so he changed the topic instead. “But I guess I shouldn’t complain if you actually want to help me. Even though I really don’t know why.” He hands the alpha another rag and a saddle and returns to his own work. He can feel Derek observe him as he dips the rag in the oil standing between them. He makes small circular motions on the saddle with the rag to rub the oil in the leather. Still Derek’s attentive gaze is still on him. “I thought you wanted to help me. Watching me is not going to minimize my workload. Like at all.”

  
“Just checking how to do it. I don’t want to mess up, you smartass.”

  
Stiles smirks. Derek is okay he guesses.

  
They work in silence for a while. The sound of a few shuffling horses next door the only sound every once in a while.


	3. Chapter 3

“Come on just choose a card.” Scott started drawing a card from his hand. Stiles grinning wickedly. “Yes please, that’s exactly the one I need, thanks.”

Scott pushed the card back in the spot it came from. “Stiles stop playing mind games on me. Just let me think a moment god dammit!”

Allison snickered and Stiles sent her a quick wink.  
Again Scott started to choose a card. 

“Yes. Yes. Yes, exactly that one Scott. That’s exactly the card I need.” 

Scott threw the card on the stack in the middle of the table, and muttered a quiet: “Fuck off Stiles.”

“Oh man. I can’t use a heart seven at all. Scott what are you doing man? I thought you were my friend.” Scott just rolled his eyes. 

“Then draw another one from the deck already instead of moaning.” 

Stiles shot Allison a good-natured glare. “You can only dream about hearing me moaning, sweetheart.” To the sounds of Scott fake gagging he drew a card from the deck and chose to exchange it for a useless clubs four. 

Somehow Allison could use it anyway. “You kidding me Allison? How?” Scott looked affronted. “Just a round earlier you threw out another four. How can you possibly take the stack now?” 

Allison smiles sweetly while drawing the stack toward herself. “That’s called tactics, boys. You should try it sometime.”

A wounded sound and an overly dramatic hand to his heart later Stiles throws down his cards on the table and swipes the rest of the cards from the table. “I don’t want to play Canasta with you anymore.” He declared and left the table to throw himself onto their bed in the corner of the room instead. 

“You are such a sore looser Stiles. And you didn’t even loose, the game wasn’t over yet.”

The bed sank next to him. Suddenly there were feet right in front of his face. “Ew, Scott.” He shoved at the feet. “Get them away from me, you are disgusting.”  
Scott laughed and just wiggles his toes a bit closer to Stiles’ face than they were before. 

“Talking about moaning, Scott totally wants to moan for Prince Isaac.” The mattress dipped on the other side of Stiles and Scott tried to kick Allison for the comment, but Stiles received most of the blow, considering he was sitting between them. 

“How have I not heard about you meeting Princess Cora’s fiancé?”

Allison snickered. “Because meeting would be a bit of an overstatement. He saw the guy at the other end of a huge courtyard.” 

Now Stiles was the one snickering.

“I would be jealous at how much Scott talks about him, if Scott actually had a shot with the guy.”

Again Scott tried kicking his mate, and instead kicked his best friend. “I could totally have him, if I wanted to. I’m a catch.”

“Yeah, one you want and throw right back in the water maybe.” Now the kick was definitely meant to hit Stiles. Which it did. Again. “Stop kicking me! It’s not like I’m saying that I’m better. None of us is a match for a freaking royal. Allison could maybe fake it. But us two? Definitely not royalty material.”

Scott shushed him. He actually fucking shushed him. “Why are we even talking about that? I’m a mated man. So there never was any hope for Isaac and me anyway.” 

Allison leaned forward to get a better look at her mate around Stiles. “Not a problem. Most people think our mating is a joke anyway. They still believe you should have mated Stiles, because you two are so perfect for each other.” She makes air quotes with her fingers at the word ‘perfect’.

Both guys groan in disgust at the idea of mating each other, whilst simultaneously moving closer. Scott lays an arm around Stiles to drag him in his side, rubbing his cheek over his temple to scent mark the omega. 

Used to their behavior Allison just rolls her eyes. 

“Maybe they wouldn’t have questioned my mating, had I mated prince Isaac after all,” Scott stated. 

All three snickered. “Probably.”

“Stiles you have to mate like princess Laura or prince Derek, then the rumors of us doing it behind Allison’s back would maybe finally stop.” 

Stiles was cuddled into Scotts chest, whilst Allison had gotten up to put a kettle of water in the fire. She was sorting through the kitchen cabinet in search of tea. “What rumor? I thought it was just fact that you two were doing it behind my back.”

“If we were doing it, we would definitely invite you to join in Ally.” Stiles winked at her suggestively. 

“Oh, then the people would definitely start talking.” Allison was pulling out bread, some cheese and ham. “Are you staying for dinner Stiles?”

He shook his head, burrowing further in Scott. The scent of alpha and brother relaxing him. The possibility of him falling asleep right now, right here, very real. The week at the stable was killing him. The preparations for the upcoming parade were hectic and uncoordinated. He wasn’t the only person anymore to stay overtime and still the workload seemed impossible. His neck still hurt from when he felt asleep at work two days ago, only to be woken up to an empty stable, by Derek who had turned up unannounced at Stiles’ workplace. Again.  
Derek had escorted Stiles home, so he could at least spend a few hours in his own bed. Before leaving he once again had changed Stiles bandages. Always the good alpha taking care of the omega. But Stiles had to admit the expensive creams Derek had used on his arm worked like witchcraft. The wound had pretty much healed up and wasn’t bothering him at work at all anymore. He almost felt sad that Derek wouldn’t really have a reason to come back once Stiles was fully healed up. He would miss having the strange alpha around. 

Shaking himself out of his own thoughts, him and Scott got off the bed. 

“I’ll get going, I told my dad that I’ll drop by on my way home.” 

With a bundle of some bread and cheese they insisted he take with him, he was on the way to one of the watchtowers. At the foot of the tower he called up to his dad and a moment later the door opened to let him in. 

They set up the small dinner Scott and Allison had provided, breaking the bread in half to share. The small watchtower was very bare. Just one small oil lamp, a table and two chairs. His dads bow and arrows leaned against the balustrade in one corner. They sat in silence both watching the dark tree line of the woods surrounding Beacon Hills. 

“How was your day off?” His dad was cutting up the block of cheese so they could take small pieces. 

“Good, I spent it with Allison, and Scott joined after he came back from work. We played some cards.” 

“Sounds like a good time, son.”

Stiles nodded. He knew something was bothering his dad. But he wouldn’t ask for it. His dad had to say it, Stiles wasn’t going to make it easier. They had this conversation a thousand times. He knew what the silence and the evasion of Stiles eyes meant. And his dad knew Stiles answer to the question. It was no. No matter how many times his dad asked, his answer was not going to change. 

Only when the rest of the food was gone did his father speak up again. 

“You know, during my last shift at the gates, there was this guy I talked to. He has a son your age. The boy is training to join the army. He plans on being a commanding officer.”  
Stiles leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms in front of this chest. “What’s his name?” 

“Greenberg.”

“No.” 

His dad shot up from his chair. “You cannot just say no Stiles. The boy is supposed to be a loyal and friendly. He would be a good choice.” 

Stiles was gathering the cloth that had held their dinner. “He would be a dull choice. I am not just taking any alpha. You should know that. I might be an omega, but I can still choose who I spend my life with, and it will definitely not be Greenberg. I would rather join the order and become a monk. I don’t need an alpha. I like my life. I like my job.”  
He got up. Done with the conversation.

“Did you get the scent blockers dad?” 

John stood at the balustrade, knuckles turning white from the tight grip on the stone. “Stiles, please just meet the guy. Consider it. I just want what’s good for you. I won’t be here forever to provide for you. You need an alpha. You need a mate. Don’t you want a family. Kids of your own?”

The answer was no. He couldn’t care less about being childless. No children meant he wouldn’t have to watch them get sick and die just because he couldn’t afford a medic. He promised himself he would not go through that. Not after he had to watch his mom die, unable to help her. 

“I want to leave dad. Did you get the scent blockers or not?”

He evaded his dads eyes. He didn’t need to see the disappointment. With a hard slap his dad handed over the bag of pills and Stiles fled the tower.  
The cold evening air on his way made him shiver. His forehead was already glistening from the sweat. His heat had arrived.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the Derekless Chapter, he will definitely appear in the next one though!


	4. Chapter 4

He was sweating. Which okay that was normal. His job was manual labor. Anyone would work up a sweat.

But this was different. This were heat sweats. He felt feverish. He felt trapped in his clothes. He felt just all around uncomfortable. All he wanted was lay in bed and not move. But here he was, shoveling hay into the horses boxes.

It was not like the money he made from this shift was helpful in any way, shape or form. His whole income was swallowed from the scent blocker. Those he needed to be able to come to work and not tempt all the ‘poor’ alphas around him. But if he didn’t come to work he would be fired. And then he would give them the reason they always give why omegas should not work at all. They would have to take off a week every three months anyway for their heats. So no, he was not taking a day off work. Not for his heat or anything else. Even if he was basically spending all his money so he could show up to work at all.

At least he felt like he could breath somewhat.

Even though it was the middle of the day he was the only person left at the stable. It had been a hectic morning.

There had been guards all around that had to get a horse each for the parade. That part had actually been quite fun. He was surprised when Scott had shown up out of nowhere and requested Stiles help to get his horse sorted out. Scott was freaking vibrating from nerves. He was so worried about messing up in the first parade he would be attending as a royal guard.

It was actually funny to see his best friend that nervous.

Though it was sad he wouldn’t be able to see his friend in the actual parade it had been nice to prepare and send him off. Allison had promised to describe anything that happened in the parade to him later in great detail.

The only solace he had for his fear of missing out, was that the parade was with Princess Cora. She was the royal Beacon Hills got to see most. She had a parade on every birthday. Stiles had seen many of those. He would only really miss out on getting a glance at prince Isaac. But from how Scott had described him in every detail, Stiles had a pretty clear image of the guy anyways.

It was not like the parade would include any of the more private members of the royal family. Prince Derek had not attended a parade since turning ten and presenting as an alpha. And his sister Laura hasn’t had a public appearance since turning of age, three years ago.

Queen Talia and her husband prince consort Eric only appeared during speeches, which Stiles rarely attended.

Considering only one person in succession to the throne was allowed to attend a parade at a time, there was no chance he would miss out on seeing the elusive crown princess Laura or her brother prince Derek.

The rest of the stable boys had left soon after the guards to meet up with their families and find a place to watch the parade. But someone had to stay back and look after the horses and make sure no customers showed up. Which honestly was unlikely, who would rather go for a ride, than watch a royal parade? Exactly.

Stiles had actually volunteered to stay behind. As much as he wanted to see his best friend in the parade, and get a glimpse on Scotts crush prince Isaac. Being trapped in a crowd of people during heat? When even his clothes made him feel caged in. That was not something that sounded good to him. Like at all!

So yeah, manning the stables it was instead. To cool down as much as possible the buttons on his shirt were undone and his shoes were thrown in some corner.

There was really no chance anyone would walk in. Everyone was gathering on the main street to get a glimpse at the royal couple.

Okay maybe there was a chance he thought, when he caught sight of Derek standing frozen in the entrance of the stables.

Instantly he dropped the pitchfork in his hands and frantically closed the buttons on his shirt. His head felt like it was burning.   
“Derek.” He coughed. “Derek what are you doing here?”

“I wasn’t expecting to see you here.” Still, Derek was staring at Stiles’ now closed shirt.

“What are you doing here then?”

Finally Derek’s gaze meet Stiles’. “I mean, I didn’t expect you to be here. But I kind of hoped you would be?”

Stiles wouldn’t have been able to stop the smile at that confession if he had tried to.

“Someone has to make sure the horses don’t freak out at the music from main street.”

“I can help. I’m good with horses.” Without waiting for Stiles reply the alpha started rolling up his sleeves.

“You don’t want to watch the parade?” Why would anyone want to spend time in the stables, instead of watching the most exciting event there had been in Beacon Hills in months, if it wasn’t their job?   
Derek just shrugged and started stroking one of the horses. “Not really. I’m glad to be out of the house during the day, but me and crowds of people don’t really mix well.”

Stiles leaned against Abbots box and the horse investigated for some treats, but retreated when it couldn’t find any on Stiles. “Glad to be out of the house during the day? Okay, yeah when I think about it, yes I have only seen you around in the night.”

Derek shrugged. “My parents keep me busy with work. But they were way to engaged with preparations for after the parade to notice me slip out.”

How did Stiles still not know what exactly Derek did with his time? They had talked so much in the last week. But the flurry about a party was to be expected. A lot of families tended to throw parties whenever there was anything to celebrate within the royal family. They seemed to think that celebrating in their own homes would somehow would bring them closer to the untouchable royalty.

“Your parents keep you busy? Are you working in the family business?”

Derek’s normally so collected manner slipped a little as he snorted. “Family business.” He seemed to debate the word a bit. “Actually yeah. I do work in a kind of family business.”

Stiles started stroking Abbot thoughtfully, whilst he eyed Derek. “Anything interesting?”

“No. Very boring stuff. They mostly ask me to keep an eye in the budgeting. They don’t really trust me with more. My older sister learns all the big stuff. I just hang out with my uncle and try to escape the office whenever I have the opportunity to.”

Derek clapped his hand together and looked at Stiles expectantly. “What do you want me to do?” With that the topic of Derek’s place of work was dropped.

They busied themselves with the work in the stables. Feeding the horses. Calming them when the music of the nearby parade got to loud. Preparing for the soon arrival of guards that would have to return the horses they had borrowed at the end of the day.

They were working side by side scrubbing through an empty box when Derek dropped the brush he was holding. The alpha was looking at Stiles perplexed. The pupils blown wide.

“What’s wrong?”

Derek was stumbling back, away from Stiles.

“What’s going on Derek?” Stiles also got up from his crouch on the floor.

Derek lightly brushed his nose and dropped his arm back to his side. Taking yet again a few steps away from Stiles.

“Uh Stiles. Your smell. It’s-” The alpha shook his head jerkily both eyes pressed close. “Your smell. It is really- It just. You smell…”

The omega drew his shirt up to his nose, inhaling deeply. He smelled his sweat. He smelled the horses. But he also smelled what definitely shouldn’t be this strong so soon. He had only taken the last scent blocker a few hours ago. Normally they would last him through a day at the very least. Sometimes even two days in a row when his heat was coming to an end. Had his dad gotten a bad batch this time around? That had to be it.

Derek’s back was pressed against the wall of the box they were in. As if he had to get as far away from the omega as possible. Stiles couldn’t help but feel a little sting at the obvious sign of discomfort from Derek. Apparently the alpha disliked his heat scent. Which, that was a surefire sign that Derek was so not into Stiles. Not that Stiles could have expected anything different. Derek was a scholar or whatever. Way out of Stiles reach.

And who was Stiles to complain about that. Hadn’t he told his dad only yesterday he didn’t need no alpha?

He hurried to his bag in the backroom to get the bag of pills he had brought. The pill was swallowed dry and Stiles just hoped it would take effect soon. He didn’t need to still smell of an omega in heat when the guards returned from the parade. That would definitely only cause problems. He drew out the Jacket he had brought in his bag and swiped the sweat from his face and neck, in the hope that it would also take some of the smell.

“You are in heat.” Derek stood in the door of the backroom mustering Stiles.

“Obviously.” Stiles was stuffing his jacket back in the bag and moved by Derek to leave the room. The alpha followed.

“Why are you working, if you are in heat?”

Stiles picked up the brush he had dropped earlier and resumed scrubbing the box. “Because I would prefer not to get fired. I need my job.”

Derek crossed his arms. Eyebrows drawing together darkly. “They cannot fire you because you take off during your heat. That is against the law.”

Again he had to wonder in what kind of world Derek lived. This was a dog-eat-dog world. How had Derek lived his life without noticing that? How sheltered could his life possibly be? Or was he really just that ignorant?

“It’s not like they would say they are firing me because of my heats. But that doesn’t change that that’s the actual reason. Something being against the law is not going to change what’s going on in the real world. And real people in the real world don’t have the privilege to take off from work for something as flimsy as a freaking heat.”

That didn’t seem to sit right with Derek. It apparently didn’t fit into the alphas dream world where people could afford to go to a medic or take off from work for heats.

The music of the parade had faded away in the distance a while ago. The chattering of the people returning home or to the parties they had been invited to was drifting by the entrance of the stables.

Derek was still stiff. Apparently not over the revelation that life was not full of fairies and rainbows like his parents had obviously promised him. “I should get going. Someone will notice me missing at the party otherwise.”

Stiles looked up at him and just nodded.

The earlier conversation had only made the contrast of their lives glaringly clear, yet again.

“I think you’re right. You should go.”


	5. Chapter 5

His heat was coming to an end. Apart from his scent all symptoms had faded away. Life had been like always. Stiles did his part at work, went home to sleep and then went back to work. Whenever he got a free moment he would spend it with Allison or Scott, or both.

Derek hadn’t shown up since the parade, and Stiles didn’t expect him to anymore. The guy seemed to finally have understood that him and Stiles lived two very separate lives that did not mix well. They just had nothing to base a friendship on. The contrast of their lives was just too stark.

His and Scotts lives were developing in very different directions. But they had a common past and shared experiences to connect upon.

Those didn’t exist for him and Derek.

“Hey there.” A tall intimidating alpha stood at the door of the box Stiles was cleaning. “I would like to borrow a horse for a little daytrip. Can you help with that? I’ve already signed in and was told to ask a stable boy for help.”

Stiles brushed off his hands on his pants. “Sure. How much experience do you have with horses?”

“I work with them often enough,” The guys arms were crossed in front of his chest.

Stiles was leading the way down the doors of the boxes, already a horse in mind for the alpha. “Do you have any preferences concerning the horse?” Turning around he could see the guy shaking his head. Okay, the alpha was tall, muscular. Bayard it was. The horse could handle a bit of weight and had great endurance. They entered the box, the horse shuffling nervously at the new arrivals.

“This is Bayard. He is pretty easy to ride. Follows commands like a pro.”

The alpha was extending a hand for the horse to smell him instantly, but stayed silent.

“Okay, I’m just going to grab everything you’ll need. You two can just get to know each other a little.” With that Stiles was out the door, in search of a saddle and headcollar. He was trying to rush to finish up with the customer. Scott wanted to pick him up early from work. The McCalls, meaning Scott and Allison, were hosting a dinner for their closest friends and family.

When he returned to the box, the alpha was stroking the horses side.

“He seems to like you,” Stiles tried to start up a conversation. Again the alpha stayed silent and Stiles just shrugged and got to work. The silence wasn’t exactly uncomfortable, but Stiles caught the alpha staring at him a few times and it was starting to freak him out. Should he say something? He didn’t want the events with Sir Jackson repeating themselves. Stiles had made sure to prop the door of the box open, but depending on the nerve of the alpha that wouldn’t necessarily stop the guy. Stiles still had the last traces of his heat clinging to his scent afterall.

No wonder Stiles jumped when there was a surprised “Sir Boyd?” from the entrance of the box. Scott stood shell shocked staring at the other alpha. “I wouldn’t expect you here. Why aren’t you using the royal stables?”

Stiles gaze flicked from one to the other. What was going on. The guy was Sir Boyd? He knew that name, but where had he heard it before. He wasn’t sure. Scott must have mentioned him. Scott knew him after all. But how did Scott know him? Sir meant he was a knight. If Scott knew him the guy probably had to be in the royal guard right?

The alpha seems to consider Scott for a while, trying to decide where they knew each other from. So at least Stiles wasn’t the only one asking himself that particular question.

“It’s Sir McCall right?” He seemed unsure about that, tilting his head slightly to one side.

“Yes sir.” Scott stood a bit straighter. Stiles could tell he was hiding the smile wanting to break free because the alpha actually knew his name.

“You’re a newer recruit, but actually seem promising.”

The corner of Scotts mouth was twitching and he seemed to grow a few inches from pride alone. He dipped his head slightly. “Thank you sir, that’s very generous of you.”

Sir Boyd didn’t acknowledge Scotts answer and started fastening the straps on the saddle Stiles had let go during the interaction taking place. “Anyway. Borrowing a horse form the royal stables is always such a hassle, so much protocol to follow. And I’ve been hearing a lot of good things about this one, so I thought I’d check it out for myself.” For some reason the alpha looked at Stiles at the last part of the statement. “But I could ask you the same McCall. What are you doing here?”

“I’m picking up Stiles.” He turned more to Stiles and asked how long he would need so they could get going.

The other alpha frowned at their interaction. And the frown deepened even further when Scott approached to cup Stiles neck, a common way to scent mark between alpha and omega.

Stiles shifted, uncomfortable under the intense gaze of the strange alpha. Moving closer to Scott. “Actually I’m done.” He patted Bayards head, and handed the reins over to the alpha. “Just hand Bayard back to someone still here when you get back, they’ll handle the payment after.”

Stiles could feel the eyes of the unknown alpha following him as he left with Scott, but he refused to turn around and acknowledge the strangeness of the situation.

When they were safely out of earshot Stiles finally asked how Scott knew Sir Boyd.

“He’s in the royal guard, but that’s not just it. Like he is leading the detail for prince Derek. They apparently grew up together and act like brothers. I don’t understand why he’d get a horse at this stable and not the royal ones. It’s really not much of a hassle. Not even for me, so how much of a hassle could it really be for him? He could probably borrow prince Dereks own horse if he wanted to and not have to pay anything. It just doesn’t make sense.”

They were hurrying to Scotts house to make it in time for dinner. So Stiles didn’t say anything huffing and puffing to keep up with the alphas speed. And even if he wasn’t focused on his breathing and the stitches in his side, he wouldn’t have an answer for Scott. He couldn’t explain why someone like Sir Boyd would use the Stables Stiles worked at. He had no clue.

But as if the days events had not been weird enough, he had to sit through one of the most awkward dinners he has ever had at the McCall house. Both Allison and Scott were fidgeting relentlessly. Both unusually quiet.

Stiles was exchanging uncomfortable glances with his father and Scotts mother. Melissa had opened her mouth a few times to address her son, but had never found the right words. The table had been wrapped in an uncomfortable silence throughout the whole dinner.

He had just finished his entire plate and Allison hadn’t even really touched her food at all. What was going on?

He couldn’t wait any longer for them to own up to what was bothering them. His fork clattered to the table. ”What is going on? You two seem like you’re going to tell us someone is dying.”

Scott wrung his hands, knuckles turning white.

“Nothing is wrong. No one is dying. More the opposite.” He coughed. “It’s just that we have to tell you-“ A hand messed up Scotts hair. Strands standing in every which way. “We have to tell you, that-“ He grabbed Allison’s hand reaching out to him. Again he stopped talking and looked over to Allison. She continued for him.

With a timid smile she turned to her mother in law. “We have to tell you that we are expecting.”

Melissa shrieked in delight but Stiles was just flabbergasted. His best friend Scott was supposed to become a dad? He was going to be responsible to care for a screaming baby. That was just calling for a disaster. His dad had gotten up and was giving Scott a congratulatory handshake and Melissa was hugging Allison. Stiles still stared at chair Allison had just sat on.

“Stiles, buddy. What do you think?” Scott lay a hand on Stiles shoulder.

With effort he got his lips to turn upward in a smile. He did not get up though. “It’s awesome Scott. I’m happy for you guys. A baby. Man that’s just crazy.”

“Yeah, I’ll have to take on a bit more work. We’ve been seeing the medic, and it’s a bit pricey but we want to make sure everything is going perfectly.”

Stiles nodded slowly. “Yeah makes sense.”

On the other side of the table Melissa was gushing to Allison that they should stop by her hut. It was honestly surprising that they were going to the medic instead of Melissa. She was Scotts mother after all. And she could take care of Allison’s pregnancy just fine. She helped most pregnant people in Beacon Hills.

They drank a toast to the happy family and talked till late in the night. Stiles tried to hide his conflicted feelings about the situation with getting involved in the conversation as much as possible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys,   
thank you all so much for reading. I'm sorry this chapter took so long but my life kinda took over. My love life got very complicated very fast and my academical life is killing me very slowly but surely. So I'm not sure when I'll be able to update the next time, but it might take some time. But another chapter is coming!


	6. Chapter 6

“Oh my god, you look like hell!” Scott’s left eye was swollen half shut a nasty cut on his cheek. He was generally pretty pale and leaning against the door, of the box Stiles was standing in, to hold himself up.

“Can you please take the rest of the night off? I need a drinking buddy!”

Stiles dropped the saddle he was holding to the ground to approach Scott and grab his chin, to turn his head every which way. “How did this happen? Who did that to you?” It had to have been an alpha, otherwise the wounds should have been healed moments after they were inflicted. Even deep cuts from blades would heal fast if they were not drenched in wolfsbane. This had to have been an actual fistfight.

Stiles hand was shoved away. “Just, please. Let’s just get some drinks?”

After a curt nod Stiles returned the saddle to its place on the wall and followed Scott out on the street. They slowly headed towards the tavern. Scott stumbling every few steps.

Stiles had to grab his arm to steady him at some point. How had he gotten so badly injured in the first place? This couldn’t just be from training of the guards. Was he attacked? Robbed?

“Are you sure we should get drinks? Maybe you should head to your moms hut so she can take a look at those cuts.”

“It’s nothing. I just need some time to heal and drink mead.”

Not happy with this answer, Stiles still continued towards the tavern. Cautiously steading Scott every few steps like he was already drunk. If Scott wanted to get drinks Stiles didn’t stand a chance to get him to his mothers hut. Even this badly hurt Stiles wasn’t a match for the alpha.

Very much out of breath Stiles dropped Scott in a chair at the back of the dimly lit room of the tavern. This early in the evening it was pretty empty, but it shouldn’t take much longer for the regulars to roll in. Due to the lack of customers it didn’t take long for two goblets to appear in front of the two friends.

A loud groan escaped Scott as he lifted the mead to his lips to take a large gulp.

Stiles on the other hand just turned the goblet in his hand to keep himself occupied, waiting for his friend to finally tell the story of what happened. When it took too long he asked for it once again.

“I think Sir Boyd pointed me out to prince Derek. In training he asked me to spar. And I actually handled it pretty well. I got him disarmed and all. But the fight didn’t end there, we just kind of kept going. I mean he’s the prince. If he doesn’t stop I won’t. And then it just transformed in this massive fist fight. It’s really not that bad.” Again Scott took a large swing of the mead.

“You’re saying this-“ Stiles gestured to Scotts face. “-is all the work of prince Derek?” What the hell?

“Yeah, it’s just training, nothing major.” Scott shrugged.  
“You’re kidding me right? Nothing major? You can barely walk. That shouldn’t happen from just training. I mean just look at your face. Is there even an inch left that won’t bruise?”

Scott just rolled his eyes. “You just don’t get it. You couldn’t.”

Now that stirred something in Stiles. “I couldn’t? What do you mean?” He noticed that his voice had gotten a sharp edge. But there wasn’t anything he could have done against that. “You mean because I’m a breakable, fragile omega, I couldn’t possibly understand your oh so sensible training of beating each other to bloody pulps?”

“Yes, okay? I am an alpha of the royal guard and I have to be ready to keep on fighting for this kingdom, even when I’m beaten to a bloody pulp. There is a reason why the royal guard is made up of alphas. It’s because we are the strongest and fastest, yes. But it’s also because we keep fighting when we have to. We endure pain and injury to protect this country.”

Stiles mouth stood agape. Scott did not just say that. He couldn’t have. He was Scott. The very same person that celebrated the hardest when Stiles had gotten his first heat. And who was Stiles biggest cheerleader when he got his first job. Who had always supported Stiles choice not to marry.

“You know what. I don’t need this. I’m gonna go home. You can swing by when you get back to being my best friend, instead of being a bigoted alpha stereotype.” Scott didn’t say anything. He didn’t even make a move to stop Stiles. He just sat there staring at the wall, drinking from his goblet. “I’ll see you around Scott.”

He hurried through the streets. The sun was just going down. Normally he would be excited to have the rare early night at home to relax. But the problems with his and Scotts friendship just seemed to pile to high, to actually properly relax.

What he did not expect to see was a figure slouched in the shadows in front of his home. The person was wearing a dark cape, the hood hiding most of the face. He was leaning against the wall, arms crossed in front of the torso.

“Can I help you?” Stiles stood a safe distance away. To his surprised the figure drew back the hood a bit to reveal Derek underneath. The alphas face was set into a dark grimace. “Derek? What are you doing here?”

“You’re up for a little trip?”

“A trip? It’s getting dark, it’s way too dangerous to take a trip.”

Derek lifted part of his cloak and grabbed hold of the gleaming sheath of a sword. “Don’t worry. You’ll be safe. Believe me, nighttime is the best time to be outside the walls.”

He shouldn’t go with the alpha. He knew that. What did he really know about Derek? Basically nothing! But he was pissed at the world. More specifically at Scott and he really did not want to settle into a boring, calm evening. And here was Derek offering him a change of scenery with a sense of danger and excitement.

“Don’t think about it too much.” He stepped back into the shadows and when he reappeared he was leading a sleek black horse by its harness. “Here, just put this on, and lets go.” He shook out another long black cloak, similar to his own, and handed it over.

Derek helped fastening the cloak and then hid his face behind his own hood.

Derek seated himself easily in the saddle of the horse and reached out his hand to help Stiles up, to sit in front of the alpha. Arms reached around the omega to grab hold of the reins. “Are you ready?” The moment Stiles nodded, the horse set into motion.

The swaying movement of the horse moving pressed Stiles back into Derek. At first Stiles tried to straighten up and move away from Derek. But at some point Derek let the rein go with one hand, to stop Stiles from shifting. The arm lay around Stiles and drew him further into Derek. “Just relax, Stiles.”

Now that Stiles wasn’t so focused on how to get space between himself and Derek, he finally noticed that a few of his neighbors were shooting him weird glances as they rode by. So he put on his own hood, just as Derek, to hide his face from the onlookers. What would his dad think, when someone told him, that his omega son had left town with a stranger on a sleek black horse? Better to keep his face hidden, so that would never happen!


	7. Chapter 7

Stiles was thankful for the cloak Derek had given him. The material was thick and smooth. After the sun had gone down, so had the temperature. He was leaning into Derek, whose body heat was warming his back. And the coat was doing a fantastic job at keeping the wind away.

“Derek? Where are we going?” It’s been a while since they left town. They were deep in the forest surrounding his home and Stiles had lost all sense of direction a while ago. At first Derek had kept to the roads. But with the last few sunbeams he had turned off the road and far into the forest.

“Be patient, Stiles. You will see soon enough.”

“Soon enough? Way to be ominous.” With a huff he burrowed further into Derek’s chest. The arm securing him fastened around his waist. “You know we’re far enough away for you to kill me without people hearing. You don’t have to keep going for that.”

“I am not going to kill you. Hurting you is the last thing I want to do.” The horse was picking up speed and Stiles had to grab onto Dereks arms, not fall off when it suddenly left the ground to jump over a tree trunk.

“What the hell Derek. I thought you didn’t want to kill me!” Stiles shrieked.

“Just a second ago you were complaining that we are still on the way. So I am going faster, because that is going to help us arriving sooner, you know.”

Stiles rolled his eyes. Such a smartass!

They kept going at the faster pace and Stiles allowed himself to enjoy that the jostling movements of the horse allowed him to be this close to Derek.

But Derek stayed true to his word, and soon enough, more like too soon for Stiles liking, they slowed down again.

Derek jumped off the horse and helped Stiles down.

“Where are we?”

The alpha didn’t answer and just grabbed Stiles hand, after he had bound the horse to a nearby tree. Stiles followed Derek through the last row of trees and nearly gasped as he got his first glance at the scenery.

They had arrived at a small lake. The moon was reflecting on the water and tinged everything in a silvery light. For once in his life Stiles was actually lost for words. He didn’t even notice that Derek had left him standing there alone, and was only woken from his trance when Derek reappeared next to him, saddle bag in hand. “Come on.”

Stiles followed Derek to the water’s edge and kneeled next to the water to dip his fingers into the icy cold. When he turned back around, Derek had folded out a blanked on the pebbled floor. He was sitting in the middle of it, rummaging through the bag, pulling out neatly wrapped packages. Taking a seat next to the alpha, Stiles reached for one of the packages.

“What’s this?” he said, holding out the circular shaped paper.

“Unwrap it, I hope you like it.” Stiles reached for the string holding the paper together. With one light pull, the paper folded back and the neatest loaf of bread Stiles had ever seen was revealed. There were no cracks and it was browned so evenly he hardly believed it was actually edible. Still fascinated with the bread he barely noticed Derek opening a few other packages, revealing fruits and cheese. But Stiles was actually stunned when Derek pulled two goblets and a bottle of wine from the bag.

What was happening? How was this Stiles life again?

“Try some.”

“Huh?” Dazed, Stiles looked up at Derek.   
“Come, hand it over to me.” Without waiting for Stiles reaction Derek just grabbed the bread and cut a piece off, handing it back to Stiles.   
“Try it.”

Slowly Stiles lifted the slice of bread up and just sniffed. It was heavenly. He took a bite and just moaned. He couldn’t contain himself if he’d tried.

Derek laughed at his reaction. “Okay, now you are just exaggerating. It is just bread Stiles.”

His mouth fell open. Still containing half chewed bread and all.

Derek just raised a thick eyebrow.

“Just bread? This is not just bread! After tasting this I could happily die. Life cannot get any better after this.”

Derek rolled his eyes. But to some degree Stiles was deadly serious. He took everything Derek offered and ate like he hadn’t in a long time. He actually was full, no stuffed. There was no way he was ever going to be able to move again. This was total bliss.

And then Derek moved the food out of the way and suddenly he was lying on his back wrapped in Derek’s arms. His fingers were moving up and down the hard chest. His head was light and he felt comfortably warm. Maybe he had one glass too much from the wine. Or was he just drunk of the moment? Derek was staring at the sky. Face wonderfully relaxed. There was a small smile playing on his lips. Oh, no correct that. There was a small smile playing on both their lips.

“Thank you.”

  
Derek leaned up on both elbows. “Thank me? For what?” His eyebrows set into a frown.

Stiles shrugged, letting his head sink down and rest on Derek’s chest. Derek did not move away. He just held eye contact and waited for Stiles answer.

“Just for everything.”  
The alphas chest shook from the resulting laughter.

“You will have to be more specific than that, Stiles.”   
Stiles smiled. He liked his name. No stop. He liked his name spoken by Derek. Yeah that seemed more like it.

“Just everything. The food. The trip. Your presence. You trying to help at work when you show up unannounced.”  
Derek frowned. “Most of my life is announced. It’s nice to be unannounced once in a while.”

“Huh?” Stiles’ head fell to the side.   
Derek just shook his head. “Forget I said that. You were saying?”

Stiles was saying something? Oh right. “I’m just thankful for everything you’ve done for me. You barley know me. I barely know you and still you keep showing up. And I keep hoping you’ll show up. I don’t know why, I shouldn’t but I just do.” He wanted to say more. He thinks. But he was interrupted by a hot pair of lips on his own and to be honest he can barely remember what he was even talking about now. His fist is gripping onto fabric and the other is holding onto hard muscle. But it barely registers. Everything he can do is follow where Derek is leading. And oh man is Derek leading well.

He is kissing Derek.

Wait, no.

Derek is kissing him.

His head is spinning and he breaks away. His head falls forward. He is shaking. He laughs. His laughter sounds broken and hesitant.   
And then Derek grabs his hand. There is a light touch stroking up and down the back of this hand and it grounds him a bit. He doesn’t float as high anymore. But still he floats. And laughs shakily.   
“Are you okay?” Derek’s hand sweeps back Stiles hair out of his face and then just rests the hand at the back of the omegas neck.

Stiles nods. Yes he was okay. He was more than okay. But still his hands wouldn’t stop shaking.

“Are you sure about that?” The grip on Stiles hand fastened for a moment.

Again Stiles nods. And then he was leaning in to connect their lips this time. 

Everything was spinning but oh did he enjoy this spinning world he was living in.

Derek stroked his cheek. Derek moved his fingers through Stiles hair. He gripped Stiles neck to draw him closer and all the omega could do was holding onto Derek like he was scared the moment would end and the alpha would run.

What Stiles didn’t expect was the loud grunt, accompanied by flinching away from the omega, the moment Stiles had dropped a hand to rest on Derek’s side. Now the alpha was gently pressing into the exact spot Stiles had just touched. Stiles stopped himself halfway through reaching for the alpha, hands just hovering in the air in between them. “Are you okay? Did I hurt you?” But how? How could a simple touch have hurt him?

Derek ground his teeth together. “It is okay. Do not worry. Just-” He again applied pressure to the same spot. “It is just a bit of bruising. Nothing major.”  
A bit of bruising? The reaction looked like a whole lot more than that.   
“Really Stiles. Nothing to worry you. I just received a bad blow to that side earlier today.”  
Now Stiles frowned even more. “Where would you receive a bad blow? I thought you just did the financial work for your families business?”  
Derek nodded. “Yes, you are right about that. The financials are my main field of expertise. But I like to spend a bit of time with my friends as well, you know?”   
“Great friends you have, if they beat you up.”  
Derek shifted a bit in his place. “No, that is not what I wanted to say. The bruising is from a small accident. I just like fell from a horse and got kicked in the side, you know how it is.”   
Stiles cocked his head. No he didn’t know. Because even though he grew up being told how impolite it was to listen to another’s heartbeat, he had noticed the small blip of the obvious lie Derek had just told. But what reason did someone like Derek have to lie about an injury?

Images of a fancily dressed Derek in an office being beaten because of some error in the budget came to his mind and Stiles grabbed for the alphas hand to give it a reassuring squeeze.   
“Are you sure?”

Derek furrowed his brows and just nodded shortly. “Of course I’m sure about that.”

Stiles chewed on inside of his cheek. His guts were twisting uncomfortably from the obvious lie. But he didn’t want to press the issue, it probably was none of Stiles business how Derek got hurt anyway.   
Even if the lie made Stiles aware that something was off, it was not enough for him to destroy whatever he had with Derek here. So for now he just tried to shrug the nagging feeling off and moved closer to Derek, to close the space between them.   
At some point Stiles couldn’t be sure if the shaking was from the progressing night, even the expensive coat not being enough to keep out the cold, or if the shaking was still from the excitement of the developments of the night.

At first Derek just rubbed Stiles hands in his own for a while, blowing warm air at them. Then suddenly he jumped up. “We have two options as far as I see it. Either we go look for some firewood to warm you up,” He grinned and held up both thumbs. “Or, we make our way back into town and I drop you back off at your place?” This time he made a thumbs down in combination with the most adorable puppy-dog-eyes Stiles had ever seen on a grown man.   
Stiles just giggled and made his way to the surrounding trees in search of wood to start a fire. “Well come on, or do you just want to watch the poor freezing omega work?” This finally spurred Derek back into action, dragging the biggest logs he could find back to their little picnic blanket.


	8. Chapter 8

His neck was hurting and his back was cracking badly when he tried shifting into a more comfortable position. He startled when an arm drew his shifting body back into a solid form. An unintelligible muffling reminded him of where he was and that the warm breath on his neck belonged to Derek.

He turned around slowly to get a good look at the sleeping person lying next to him. The alphas hair looked like Stiles had never seen it. Normally it was sleek and cleanly combed without a single hair out of place. Now it was all over the place. Strands pointing in every direction and the wind blowing them into the alphas face. It was an adorable sight, and Stiles still couldn’t believe that a context existed in where he could actually call a muscle packed alpha like Derek adorable. But here it was. Derek looked adorable, and Stiles wished he was a good artist so he could capture this sight in a drawing so he’d never run the risk of forgetting this very moment. But he’d have to make do with just imprinting this sight in his mind.

The morning sun reflected in one of the buttons of the coat Derek had draped over them the night before. Stiles grabbed for the shiny object and twists it in the light to see the embossment. It only took him a second to recognize the image, how couldn’t he, it was all over the town he grew up in. The wolf standing in flames, symbolizing the alpha rising from the ashes. The image stemmed from the legends about how the royal family used to be nobodies, but then through hard work overcame all the hardships presented, to now rule over one of the most influential and powerful kingdoms. The small button was golden, so the colors red and black of the royal house were missing but the image stayed just as grand. It’s simplicity being the reason why the picture was so powerful. Why it was recognized miles away.

For a moment he wondered if the button was actual gold and he twisted it in his fingers, as if just the feel of the metal would actually answer that question. Derek obviously came from a wealthy household, though Stiles couldn’t be too sure how wealthy he actually was. How long would he have to work and save all his income to ever afford something so ostentatious and at the same time simple, as a button made of gold?

That thought broke his relaxed state in a moment. He shot up, waking Derek with the sudden movement.

“Shit, Shit, Shit!”  
He was already standing and fastening the button of the coat Derek had given him, when Derek was only slowly sitting up. “What is going on?” The alpha was rubbing his eyes and stretching.   
Stiles was swaying whilst standing on one leg, trying to shove his other foot into his working boots. “I need to get to work. Look how freaking bright it is, I should have been there hours ago! Oh my god. I’m so losing my job!”

But Derek didn’t start rushing with Stiles. Instead he reached for his arm and pulled until Stiles fell back to the ground next to the alpha. “Oh come on. Just a few more moments. We just woke up. They have waited on you so long, they can wait a bit more, what is the worst that can happen?” Stiles was dragged into the muscled chest, stale morning breath brushing over his face.

“The worst that can happen? I just told you, me losing my job is a very real possibility.” He tried fighting his way out of the embrace but Derek just tightened his hold.

“So what? You will find a new job, you dislike this one anyway, right?”  
Stiles stilled in his movements. And again here was a moment that showed just how sheltered Derek had grown up.

“Derek, I need the money, I don’t go to work for fun, but to survive. If I don’t work, I don’t eat, it’s as simple as that!” His tone of voice had been a bit harsher than Derek deserved, so he tried softening it a bit to go on with his statement. “And no, I won’t just find a new job. You don’t realize how hard it is to actually get employed as an omega. It’s a miracle I even got this job, and that was more as a favor to my dad than anything.”

He avoided Derek’s gaze, because he had seen that sad look of realization too often already on the alpha. The moment of clarity, when it once again became so very obvious what kind of different lives they were really leading. The arms around the omega dropped, Derek got up off the blanket and extended his hand to Stiles.   
“Then let’s get going.”

They packed everything as fast as they could and soon enough Stiles was sat securely in the saddle in front of Derek. Nervously Stiles was chewing on his lip, imagining what will wait for him when he finally gets to his place of work. How could he have been so stupidly caught up in Derek that he didn’t anticipate this happening the night before? He should have known better and returned home after spending time with Derek.

Derek was urging the horse to go as fast as it was able to, obviously noticing how much the time was bothering Stiles. Pretty soon they arrived at the gates to the city. But what Stiles hadn’t expected were the soldiers stationed at the gates of the city, instead of the usual guards. Instead of the two guards at the doors to the city, were now six soldiers in full armor. But they didn’t seem to care much about keeping someone out of the city, as four of the soldiers were actually watching the streets of the city, and only two were observing the surrounding woods. Derek had stopped the horse a few feet of breaking clear of the tree line. “Now this is not a good sign.” And suddenly the horse was trotting back into the forest.   
Stiles was turning back in his seat trying to look at Derek. “What are you doing? I need to get to work!”

He got no answer at first. Instead Derek just redirected them along the east wall of the city. “I know. But does it really look like they were just going to let us pass? No they would have probably questioned us and just delayed us further. But I have a plan, we just need to find a better entrance into town.”

They passed two more gates, not entering the town because of the soldiers stationed at every of the gates. They stayed in the shadows of the trees and Derek just observed for a moment before moving on. When they had first gotten close to the city, Derek had pulled on the hood of the cape he was wearing, but when they were waiting in the shadows of the trees in front of the fourth gate, Derek drew back the hood again. Stiles expected him to move on further, because to him the situation looked exactly like the ones before. Not being the main gate there were not six soldiers, but the two soldiers stationed at the gates before had also been enough for Derek to move on. But this time they broke the tree line and slowly approached the gate. The two soldiers jumped into action and Stiles actually recognized one of them as Sir Boyd, the member of the royal guard, who had shown up at the stables recently.

Derek stopped the horse in front of the two soldiers and dismounted. Stiles was just about to follow suit, when Derek stopped him. “No, you can wait here. Just let me talk to them for a moment. I will sort this thing out.” Stiles bit his nails, watching Derek calmly talking with the soldiers. At one point Sir Boyd was firmly shaking his head and Stiles was sure, they wouldn’t actually be allowed into town. But then Derek returned back to the horse, and got on behind Stiles. Sir Boyd disappeared through the gates and Derek spurred the horse into action to follow the soldier. The other one just silently stepping out of the way.

Behind the gate Sir Boyd was waiting for them, also seated on a horse.   
“If you could just lead the way to the omegas home, so I can escort you to yours.”

Stiles turned to Derek who started leading the soldier into town. “But I have to get to work.” He was whispering because he wanted to avoid aggravating the soldier, but still Sir Boyd was the one to answer his question.   
“I am sorry Sir, but there currently is a confinement to ones quarters, because of an incident at the palace. And until that incident is resolved, all businesses have been closed, whilst the houses in town are searched.”

Stiles again turned to look at Derek, but he got a small shrug as a response.

Soon enough they reached Stiles home and he dismounted.   
He was just about to turn to the door, when he was dragged back by his hand. Derek had also dismounted the horse and now drew Stiles closer until he could feel his breath on his face.

“Thank you Stiles. This was one of best nights I had in a long time.” The alpha smiled at him and before he could overthink it their lips were touching just for a second, before they separated again and Derek jumped back on the horse.

Sir Boyd, waiting a small distance away now spoke up again. “Sir, if you could now please enter your home.”  
And with that Stiles just nodded and turned to the door of his house.   
The moment the door closed behind him, the booming voice of his father filled the small room. “Where the hell have you been? There is a confinement to one’s home and you are nowhere to be found. Young man you can be so lucky our home was not searched yet, or we could be in such trouble!”


	9. Chapter 9

He hadn’t heard anything from Derek since their little adventure in the woods. A few times the idea to just show up at his doorstep had crossed Stiles mind, but he had no idea what doorstep to even show up on and if Derek would be happy to see him there. Derek had always been the one to search out Stiles, and so far he had no real reason to complain about their little system. But now he was starting to worry about the alpha. After all the last time he had seen him, the alpha had been escorted away by a soldier at his side. One would think Derek would at least send Stiles a message saying he had made it home safe and that Stiles had nothing to worry about. For all he knew Derek was locked up in a dark dungeon under the castle.

But maybe Derek was avoiding him purposefully, in the end Stiles couldn’t be sure what Derek actually thought about kissing the omega. Maybe he finally had realized that Stiles was beneath him and was now just extremely embarrassed of the entire situation. Who knew?

Maybe Derek had gotten everything he was aiming for with Stiles and now no longer had any reason to visit the omega. God did he hope this was not true!

He blew out the lamp that had helped him work the last few hours in the darkness. Not expecting the voice behind him when he locked up the stables. Naturally he jumped accompanied by a not so manly shriek.   
“What the hell Allison?”

The girl was just smiling sweetly. She was leaning against the wall of the opposite building, half hidden in the shadows of the night.   
“What are you doing out at this time? You should be fast asleep by now.”  
She shrugged and motioned him to follow her. 

“I couldn’t sleep and thought I might as well go see you, it’s been too long!”   
Stiles stuffed his hands into his pockets not saying anything. He didn’t really want to discuss the falling out he had with Scott, especially not with Allison. So instead he just followed her in silence.

“So why haven’t I seen you in the last week?”

Oh so Allison didn’t know about the falling out. That made sense. Scott probably didn’t even think twice about the fight they had at the bar.

He shrugged as they turned a corner into a smaller, darker alley. It took him a moment, but in the end he decided that Alisson didn’t deserve to be dragged into this feud. “I’ve been busy at work I guess.”

“Scott has been the same. The day after the confinement last week he was summoned before the crack of dawn and has been training pretty much every second ever since. I feel like I haven’t seen him in forever. He even started sleeping at the soldiers quarters in the castle because he wouldn’t get any sleep otherwise.”

They had arrived at the McCall House and Allison was unlocking the door. The moment he stepped into the house he breathed out a sigh of relief. The nights were getting steadily colder, so when he came home after work he felt like even his bones were starting to freeze. Wearing the coat Derek had borrowed him had crossed his mind, but he was too scared someone would steal it, to actually take it to work with him. And he probably would have to give it back to Derek eventually, the alpha had just forgotten to ask to have it back with the whole confinement to one’s quarters crisis. There was no way Stiles could lose or damage the coat. He would never be able to pay Derek back for the cost of such an item. So for now he just had it neatly folded at the bottom of his trunk at the end of his bed. Safely tucked under the rest of his belonging to stay out of his fathers sight. His dad might actually think Stiles had stolen it.

Allison was moving around the kitchen filling a kettle with water.   
“Do you want some tea? Melissa gave me this ginger based one that is supposed to help with morning sickness, but it actually tastes good as well.”

Nodding Stiles jumped on the counter next to Allison.

Allison was shuffling around the kitchen and Stiles just watched his friend, relaxing in the familiarity of the situation.

With a steaming mug of tea in his hands Stiles was snuggled up in Scotts and Allison’s bed. Allison was stretched out next to him, her full cup cooling off on the nightstand.

“How have you been doing?”   
He turned more towards Allison to watch her whilst she took a moment to considered her answer.   
“A bit lonely, I guess. Scott has been so caught up in work. I’ve been spending some time with the other guards partners, but they all bore me. They are all so shallow and have no life experience whatsoever.”

Stiles had to bite his lip. Because yes. He agreed, he had met some of the people Allison was talking about at parties Scott had took him along to and some of them were regular customers at the stables. And yes Scott had managed to get into a social circle Stiles did not understand and that didn’t understand Stiles either.

He was silent for a moment and just sipped on his tea. Leaning back against the headboard of the bed he was chewing on his lip.

How would he get along with Derek’s social circle if he already struggled with Scotts new friends and coworkers? Just based of what he heard from Derek’s life, he must run in circles much higher than a mere guard. He couldn’t even imagine who Derek’s friends were. Had Derek ever met the royals? He should ask him that next time they saw each other. If they ever saw each other again.

“You should talk to Scott. Tell him it’s bothering you. You are pregnant with his baby, he should be there for you!”   
Allison just pressed her lips in a thin line.

“I think that’s just it. He wants to provide for me, so he throws himself into work so I don’t lack anything. And since the confinement training is mandatory, it’s nothing he could get out of if he wanted to I think.”  
Stiles arched an eyebrow. “You think?”   
He was blowing on his tea as Allison just sighed.   
“I don’t really know. I asked him, but he shuts down. I don’t know if he isn’t allowed to talk about it or, if he even knows why they are doing this. I don’t even know if he knows what the whole confinement thing was about. Like what the hell happened at that freaking castle to cause an alarm in the middle of the night. They dragged Scotts ass out of the house at one in the morning and he was searching houses the rest of the night for god knows what. No one was allowed to go to work or even leave the house and then in the morning they are just like never mind everything is good now?” Stiles shrugged as well. Yeah hearing it like that did sound weird. Till now he had only been extremely glad to actually get back into the city, to spend too much thought to the actual causes of the confinement. “And obviously not everything is good now, or why would they make my mate train day and night? Why would they make my mate lie to me about how much he actually knows? Something is going on in that castle but I for the life of me cannot figure out what it is.”


	10. Chapter 10

Another two weeks had gone by and he still had not heard from Derek. To get his mind off of the radio silence from Derek’s side he had spent most of his free time with Allison. She was not downplaying how little time Scott actually had. Stiles had stayed over four out the last six nights at their house and had not seen a single sign of Scott. He wasn’t even sure if Scott had been home at all in the last week. He hadn’t asked. To be honest he tried to avoid the topic of Scott as much as possible when spending time with Allison.

Still he enjoyed having the downtime with his friend and Melissa was also coming by her sons house quite often lately, probably checking on how her grandbaby in progress was doing. So yes. The last weeks he had a lot of time spent with friends. He had a warm house to sleep in. Allison made sure he always had a full stomach but still he was missing someone. He was missing a weird alpha that had just always shown up without Stiles asking for it. And he was starting to feel pretty sure Derek wouldn’t actually ever show his face again. The alpha was probably boasting to his friends about the fun time he had with the dirty stable boy and how naïve the omega was to actually fall for an alpha like him.

Because yes, Stiles had to admit he had feelings for the alpha. How did you say it again. You don’t know what you have till it’s gone?

Well Derek was gone.   
And Stiles was not doing so well in the aftermath of it all. He was not exactly sure what his feelings towards Derek were. But there were definitely some kind of feelings there.   
How was that him? Where did he turn wrong to be exactly what he had told his dad he’d never be? Why had he not listened to his head when it was telling him this situation couldn’t actually be true?

He was ripped out of his thoughts by loud yelling in front of him. And when he turned another dark corner of Beacon Hills at night he had to jump back, his head hitting the stone wall of the building behind him, before several guards on horses passed him at a speed that should not be allowed without any kind of warning. Stiles was the only person on the street so he couldn’t ask anyone else if they knew what was going on. But when he was approaching main street his surprise got even bigger, because one of the guards was blocking his way onto main street. Only when he got closer did he realize it was not any guard, but Scott who had his right hand menacingly held over the handle of his sword.   
This dark stance instantly dropped when Scott could also finally see Stiles face in the fire light of one of the torches he passed approaching main street.   
“Hey Stiles.” His best friends voice sounded small. It did not at all fit the image of the big intimidating guard protecting the city of evil he was supposed to give off.   
Stiles just nodded awkwardly.

“I’m sorry I can’t let you pass main street right now. You’ll have to wait a bit.”  
Stiles approached further until he was standing next to Scott. He was trying to look past his friend to see what the commotion was about. All he could see from here were other guards closing off other streets entering main street.

“What is going on?” He turned to Scott. He wasn’t sure about where they stood right now, friendship wise. But it’s not like he could go anywhere right now, he was stuck here with Scott if he was not allowed to cross main street, and just standing in silence would be ultimately worse than trying to talk.

Scott turned around a few times to scout their surroundings.

“I’m not really supposed to say.” Again he turned to watch the dark alley behind them. “But I guess you’ll find out soon anyways so it shouldn’t be too much harm to tell you.” The voice of the alpha dropped a few levels. “The royals are awaiting a visit about some official business or something. As far as I know Lord Gerard and his daughter are coming to stay in Beacon Hills for a few weeks at the least. It was kept under wraps so far to guarantee their safe arrival but should be announced soon enough now.”

Stiles nodded. He had heard of Lord Gerard, his daughter Kathrine and his estranged son Christopher. Still he didn’t know much about them, or about their politics.

The two men fell into silence, just watching the deserted main street.

Scott was shifting his stance next to Stiles and then fully turned to him.

“Allison told me that you’ve been spending a lot of time with her the last few days.”  
Stiles looked at his friend for a moment, not sure what to say. So he just nodded.

“Thanks man. I appreciate her not being alone so much right now.”  
Stiles gaze shifted to the farthest point of main street he could see. “She is my friend and lonely, so of course I’ll spend time with her. I’m not doing it for you.”

Scott was silent for a while after that and Stiles also didn’t feel the need to break the silence. How long was it going to take for the Argents to actually arrive, so Stiles could finally go home and end this too long day? He had worked himself to the bone at work and now just wanted to sleep in his own bed for once.

“I think they are considering me for a promotion, you know.”   
Surprised Stiles looked at Scott.

“That’s one of the reasons I’m spending so much time at work. The promotion would come with a big raise so that would be good. With the baby coming and all.”  
It made sense why Scott would spend so much time at work now. If the alpha was expecting a promotion he would put the extra work in to get the odds on his side.

“You know Allison doesn’t care. She doesn’t need the money, she just wants you to spend time with her.”  
He could basically feel Scott stiffen next to him, as they heard the sound of horses farther down main street. His voice even lower than before when he answered Stiles, without his gaze leaving the alley behind them, to stop anyone entering main street.

“I know she thinks she doesn’t need it. But she deserves it. I need to provide for her and our family, so that’s what I am doing.”

The unsaid ‘You wouldn’t understand’ just hanging in the air between them. And no Stiles did not understand!

Money was obviously a nice bonus. But no money in the world would ever be better than a home with a loving family. He would give the very last cent he had to his name to get his mother back. To restore his fathers happiness. Why didn’t Scott understand that? Scott came from a broken home as well, why where his opinions so different then?

They had fallen back into silence when the horses passed them. A small carriage flanked by now guards of two colors, those of the Hales and Argents rumbled through the dark streets of Beacon Hills and all Stiles could do was guess as to the meaning of the visit. But in the end, how much of an effect did the on goings at the palace actually have on his life? Zero to none, right.

Scott was heading to his horse, just idling around waiting for the guard to get back into action. The alpha was already sat firmly in the saddle to return to his duties, without saying anything to Stiles.

The omega was not sure, if he just head home without saying anything. It was just a weird situation.   
Finally Scott broke the silence for a last time that night.   
“Listen, Stiles. I’m sorry okay? For what I said: Right now is just a stressful time, and then the whole embarrassment with prince Derek happened. And I shouldn’t have said what I said, that was wrong. I’m just-. I’m sorry.”  
Stiles shoved his hands deep into his pockets under his coat. He was looking up and down the street just shrugging before he finally looked up at his best friend on the horse. His lips pressed thin he just nodded. “Okay.”

And with that he turned to cross the main street and left the guard behind in the dark.

He knew his father would not be home as he was once again covering the nightshift at one of the watchtowers. So the dark windows didn’t faze him. What he didn’t notice though, still too caught up in his thoughts about the new arrivals in town, was the large dark figure darting away from the door into the shadows.


	11. Chapter 11

When he entered the dark house he didn’t even notice the small letter laying on the floor right behind the door. He just stepped over it and went on search for a candle. When he lit the small light and was getting himself dressed for bed he finally saw the small white envelope. Confused he picked it up and opened the door again. But no, no one could be seen on the street who could have pushed the envelope through under the door.   
He turned the paper in his hands. There was no hint whatsoever on the envelope to see from whom it came. The wax had no seal imprint. The only sign was his name written on the back in neat handwriting he did not recognize.   
With fast movements he broke the seal, as he dropped on his bed. There was not much written on the page. Only one sentence really, but it was enough to get his heart racing.

‘Please meet me tomorrow at noon. -Derek’ on the bottom of the page was a scribbled down address.

Stiles drew the covers closer to himself. The house was ice cold, but he didn’t want to waste any firewood.   
He was supposed to work tomorrow, how was he supposed to just disappear in the middle of the shift without getting fired for it? But how could he not go to meet Derek? He had not heard from the alpha in the last two weeks and now this ominous note? He had to make sure Derek was okay! Had to see where he stood with the alpha after everything that happened.  
So the next morning he left the house long before sun up, a black coat bundled up as small as possible and hidden inside of his own coat.   
He worked for multiple hours already before his first coworker even showed up.

Some nodded his way when they came into the stables, but most just ignored the omega. He just kept up with his duties and let everyone else mingle and talk. Apparently he was not the only person to have witnessed the late night arrival to town yesterday, but it didn’t seem like anyone knew what the official business the Argents were here for actually was.

The whole time working his mind was trying to come up with excuses as to why he had to take the rest of the day off, but in the end all of the ideas he had come up with were totally unnecessary. Twenty minutes before noon he searched out his boss. He found the beta yelling at one of his coworkers.

Stiles was halfway in turning around and just declaring this whole taking the day off idea canceled. The whole thing was not worth getting fired over.  
“Stiles I was just about to search for you.”   
Mr. Finstock had stopped yelling at another stable boy and was now approaching Stiles.

Stiles just halted in his movements. “How can I help, boss?” What could Finstock want from him?

“We had a customer ask for assistance at their private stables today. Apparently one of their horses is uncomfortable around betas, so you’re our best choice for the job. Pack what you need, they need you at noon.” Stiles mouth fell open half ready to argue. But what could he really do about it? If his boss told him to jump off a bridge he would jump if it meant he could keep his job. And he needed his job. So he just nodded with a short “Yes sir.”

Never had he expected the address Finstock gave him to actually be the same one Derek had sent him. No way had Derek arranged this? This was just a coincident right?

All possibilities ran through his head.

Derek had invited him to his home and at the same day his family needed an omega stable boy at their private stables? Unlikely.

Stiles was rushing down the street the note from last night clutched in his hands. He was headed in a direction of town he had only visited a handful of times in his life, so he was not too sure where exactly he was headed.   
Not sure if he was actually supposed to work, or if Derek had just requested an omega, knowing Stiles wouldn’t get off work any other way, he had packed a bag with supplies for work, hanging off his shoulder. Did Derek realize that Stiles would not be able to just take an afternoon off? Stiles was not sure. Derek had alluded to the fact before that the alpha didn’t understand the working environment for omegas very much.

He could slowly see the changes on the street, as he approached the richer neighborhoods. The cobblestone was getting cleaner the closer he got to the castle. The clothes around him were less torn and dirty. He could even notice a difference in how well the people were fed.   
It was weird how only a few streets down the picture of the city looked so drastically different.   
When he realized he didn’t actually have much of an idea where he was, and where he was supposed to go, the omega turned a few times, just looking for a sign to show him where he was.   
The idea to ask one of the people on the street surrounding him was obviously stupid. He had noticed enough pedestrians eying him suspiciously, as if he was going to rob them off every last piece of jewelry they were carrying. So he ended up just strolling through the street in hopes to find a person that wouldn’t immediately spit at him if he came too close. He watched the time pass on a church tower in view. There was no way he could still make it in time. Helpless he again just turned in the same spot, looking for any way to orient himself.   
Unfortunately this lead him to crash into an older disgruntled man dressed in some of the finest materials he had ever seen.

Stiles could see the anger boiling up in the elderly man. But what he wouldn’t have expected was two gigantic men dressed in black to draw swords on him.

The omega stumbled a few steps back. What was going on? Who did he just run into?

“Down on your knees omega!”

Too stunned by the whole interaction Stiles didn’t react right away, so he was brought down to his knees as one of the men dressed forced him. This guard stayed behind him, holding the omega down. Whilst the older man and the other guard approached him further, towering over him. ”Who do you think you are, to stand in my way omega?”

Stiles couldn’t answer, what could he really say? He saw other people staring at the scene but they all looked away after just a moment and continued on their way.

“Answer me.” The voice boomed, but without even giving Stiles the opportunity to speak his right cheek was on fire. The old noble had taken off his glove and backhanded Stiles.   
Stunned the omega looked at the ring studded hand. It felt like hot liquid was running down his cheek. Had the hit actually split it open?

“Hold on.” Stiles head whipped into the direction of the voice.   
“Sir Boyd? What a pleasure to see you again.” The older man was taking a surprised step away from Stiles. The elderly alpha was smiling, greeting the young guard like an old friend. “I didn’t expect to see you out in town today. And where is your other half?”

The young alpha was frowning deeply, ignoring the greeting completely. With fast strides he approached the guard holding down Stiles and yanked him off of the omega. A firm hand around Stiles arm helped him back to his feet.

“What is going on?” Stiles was about to give an explanation, when a look at Sir Boyd clarified, the alpha was not talking to him. Still he felt better with the firm grip of Sir Boyd on his upper arm, instead off the other guard forcing him to his knees.

The older noble was almost sneering at Stiles. “This dirty omega ran into me and never even uttered anything close to an apology ever since.” It was very obvious, the alpha would have liked a kick or another hit to have accompanied these words.

Sir Boyd nodded and after a short look at Stiles straightened back to look at the nobleman in front of him.

“I am sorry to hear about this unfortunate incident, Lord Argent.” Stiles head shot up to look at the old man. This was Lord Argent? Oh no. Into what had he actually gotten himself here? “Please do not let this interrupt your day, Sir. Let me take care of this omega for you, so you can continue on with your day, putting this event behind you as quickly as possible.”  
Sir Boyd lowered his head slightly with his words, as a sign of respect that came of more menacingly than anything because of the sheer size of the man.

At first Lord Argent seemed to want to argue, but reconsidered after another look at the young guard.   
With another scowl into the direction of the omega he nodded. “Take care of this peasant Sir Boyd, he has already taken up way too much time of my day.”  
Sir Boyd nodded stiffly and let the three men pass them, before he made Stiles move into the opposite direction.   
Stiles was already wondering what was now going to happen to him, he had angered one of the most influential people in Beacon Hills right now. Could he be executed for this? Imprisoned? Shunned?

They turned a corner and Sir Boyd let the omegas arm go.

“Are you okay?”   
The guard eyed the omegas face and Stiles for the first time after being hit raised a hand to his right cheek only for his fingers to be red after he looked at them. He was actually bleeding.

Still he just nodded. It couldn’t be too bad.

“You have somewhere to be omega?”

It took a moment before Stiles could form the words, to explain he was supposed to work at some private stables for the afternoon. He had waved the note when he talked about not finding the address right away and the alpha grabbed it to read it himself.   
“It is just down the street. Take a turn at the end of the street and it is the third house on the right.”  
What was going on? Was Sir Boyd not going to punish him? Why was he now giving him directions? Was the alpha just going to let him go? Was he really that lucky?

The guard raised a questioning eyebrow and pointed into the direction Stiles apparently had to go to, as Stiles didn’t move.

“You’re letting me go?”

Sir Boyd shrugged. “You are Sir Scotts omega. Sir Scott is a coworker.”

Okay Stiles was really not doing a good job in not getting himself imprisoned today. Now he was actually laughing into the face of a royal guard. A guard that did not look very impressed by the omega.   
“I’m sorry. But I’m not Scotts omega.”

Now the guard just looked confused.   
“I don’t know what you think you saw. But Scott is my brother. He is happily mated to an omega called Allison. I don’t have an alpha.”  
Stiles mustered the alpha trying to figure out what he was thinking but failing. Finally the alpha just nodded. For some reason the guy seemed pleased.

“Anyways. The house you are looking for is just down the street. Take a turn at the end of the street and it is the third house on the right.”

With that the interaction was apparently over, because the alpha turned and left a confused Stiles behind.   
After another look at the church clock he hurried into the direction Sir Boyd had pointed him to.   
When he knocked at the door to the townhouse it took a few moments until it was opened by none other than Derek himself.   
The alpha immediately ushered Stiles into the house and had his first good look at the omega after he had already closed the door to the street.

Stiles had never seen someone’s face change so quickly from happy to furious.   
“What the hell happened to your face?”


End file.
